ZWO Seestar 50

[StevieDvd]

52 minutes ago, LDW1 said:

As I mention I don't have access to a keyboard to type anything while highliting the image, the keyboard is on screen and is not visible at that point. I would have to have a keyboard accessory connected to do what you say, lol !

I just tried an edit on my iphone. I could double-click on and image and an option to cut (delete) the image let me delete the image from the post. Hopefully, it works the same on your ipad.

Edited October 8, 2023 by StevieDvd

[LDW1]

31 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

I just tried an edit on my iphone. I could double-click on and image and an option to cut (delete) the image let me delete the image from the post. Hopefully, it works the same on your ipad.

Got it !  When I hit edit I then single tap not double tap the photo, it highlites in blue, that I want to delete and the keyboard stays up and then I just delete it. Thanx !

[Giles_B]

17 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

On android they land in the images folder so should show in the photo gallery app. I've just picked the ones I want and email to myself then I can pick those up from my PC to snippy into a forum post. Or use Dex to drop the files directly into a folder on the PC.

Well after a lot of searching they are definitely not there on my phone - I can view, but not retrieve the images from the cloud. Could be the android version - my phone is on Android 9. I can check this out next time by using my tablet, which is running Android 13 - instead of the phone to access the SeesStar. For now I can take screenshots of the photos from the cloud to share the images. Which is a bit clunky, but it's a workaround. That said, I've found playing with Siril and photoshop surprisingly satisfying and straightforward, so I imagine I will reprocess most images anyway.

[DaveL59]

side-by-side ish compare of the S50, dwarf2, vespera and evscope2 unfortunately in french so I wasn't following very well.

their ratings:

Edited October 9, 2023 by DaveL59

[M40]

Good find 👌 Even with the sound off it was more than interesting just watching the comparison between them. 

[powerlord]

Remember u can turn on CC with YouTube and have it translate in real time. I mean its not great, but gets the gist

[Giles_B]

I haven't been brave enough to test my french or deal with automatic translation, but the most obvious Achilles heels of the SeeStar seem to be the narrow field of view and the relatively low pixel resolution of the camera - you don't have to try many objects to get sense of these limitations. Some software tweaks will help - mosaic would help it to shine with larger objects - but it's hardly surprising that the higher spec'ed Vespera is the best performer.

Ultimately whether this is a deal breaker for the SeeStar comes down to cost - for the cash limited - i.e. pretty much everyone, there is always something bigger, better and more expensive in astronomy , but the SeeStar (and I assume, having never used one, the Dwarf) give a heck of a lot of bang per buck.

[M40]

20 minutes ago, Giles_B said:

but the most obvious Achilles heels of the SeeStar seem to be the narrow field of view

True, but that comes down to target size. I've not yet had enough clear nights to go for many galaxies but I am sure that we will then say the opposite in that it is too wide field. From my pov, this is my only widefield setup so I am more than happy going for targets I just wouldn't get with my other telescopes.

I've also found I need to spend a little more time on moving the preselected target area, definately garbage at that at the moment 🤦‍♂️

[DaveL59]

I think the bottom line is bang for buck and here the Seestar does deliver quite well. It won't suit everyone neither will the dwarf but you could have both for the cost of one of the other 2 and then some. For those of us that want hassle free at an affordable price point it fits the bill very nicely IMHO. Quite likely I'd have had to spend way more than £500 to use my SynScan EQ5 for something like this, a faster scope, cameras, guiding etc and the "fun" of getting it all to work. Then on top having dismantle, set up, polar align each time I want to use it and then take it all down after. It'd soon get to be a drag esp compared to just popping the EQ5 tripod outside, fit the S50 and power up.

[Stu1smartcookie]

4 hours ago, Giles_B said:

I haven't been brave enough to test my french or deal with automatic translation, but the most obvious Achilles heels of the SeeStar seem to be the narrow field of view and the relatively low pixel resolution of the camera - you don't have to try many objects to get sense of these limitations. Some software tweaks will help - mosaic would help it to shine with larger objects - but it's hardly surprising that the higher spec'ed Vespera is the best performer.

Ultimately whether this is a deal breaker for the SeeStar comes down to cost - for the cash limited - i.e. pretty much everyone, there is always something bigger, better and more expensive in astronomy , but the SeeStar (and I assume, having never used one, the Dwarf) give a heck of a lot of bang per buck.

That’s why I believe the Dwarf and the SS50 compliment each other … of course having both means a hefty price that is getting near to a basic Astro photography rig .. but that’s not the point . I will buy both because I want instant results . Lazy so and so , yep .  

[DaveL59]

 

Seems it doesn't remove aircraft tracks?

[M40]

The video shows what can be achieved with time and processing but I know it's not for me. At the same time it does bring something out. The first picture of the eastern veil is a simple screen grab whereas the second picture one of my boys moved the black point using photoshop and it did bring the colour out.

 

 

 

[DaveL59]

Yep, I'm not sure I'd have the inclination to span several nights on one target getting all the data to stack afterwards but it does show what can be achieved and that's pretty amazing for an entry level smart scope. I guess if we were minded to do that on a particular target we could run say 30 mins on that at the same start time each night and then go off and browse other targets. Over a week that's build up a few hours of data to collate, not sure I'd be that disciplined nor organised tho 😉 

[Giles_B]

FYI v1.9 of the app is available to download from the ZWO website for both iOS and Android - https://www.zwoastro.com/downloads/seestar

[LDW1]

I have started to use Lightroom to do editing instead of the two that I have always used, it is several levels higher in capabilities, as can be seen. I really like it !    PS:  The only PITA is that while you are working away on some, but not all, photos they flash their Premium version on the screen, they want you to rent it for a yearly rate.

Edited October 14, 2023 by LDW1
reduce photo size

[M40]

I had a go at something different tonight, Epsilon Lyrae, the double double

[Cosmic Geoff]

43 minutes ago, M40 said:

I had a go at something different tonight, Epsilon Lyrae, the double double

How did you get it to aim at that? And name it? I could still make use of a decent manual for this device. 

How does one get it to save a set of FITS files rather than a stacked FITS file?

Why can I select NGC147 but not NGC185?

A month after my first light with the S50 at a dark skies site in Shropshire, I got a clear night at home and was able to see what the S50, now with the latest software, V1.9 and v1.58, would do in Bortle 6 skies.  

Some results are posted in the EEVA Reports part of the forum. I note that it now tags the smartphone .jpgs.

I imaged NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, the biggest planetary nebula, and was pleased with the result, considering that when I tried for it with my other EEVA rig, it was a total fail. Likewise NGC 6995 (Veil), which looks much better than my effort with the other outfit.  Also IC5070, which I had not imaged previously.

The LP filter was engaged for all of these.  A couple of galaxies, also with the LP filter engaged, were disappointing, with hardly anything visible.

[LDW1]

1 hour ago, M40 said:

I had a go at something different tonight, Epsilon Lyrae, the double double

How often do you auto focus ?

[LDW1]

41 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

How did you get it to aim at that? And name it? I could still make use of a decent manual for this device. 

How does one get it to save a set of FITS files rather than a stacked FITS file?

Why can I select NGC147 but not NGC185?

A month after my first light with the S50 at a dark skies site in Shropshire, I got a clear night at home and was able to see what the S50, now with the latest software, V1.9 and v1.58, would do in Bortle 6 skies.  

Some results are posted in the EEVA Reports part of the forum. I note that it now tags the smartphone .jpgs.

I imaged NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula, the biggest planetary nebula, and was pleased with the result, considering that when I tried for it with my other EEVA rig, it was a total fail. Likewise NGC 6995 (Veil), which looks much better than my effort with the other outfit.  Also IC5070, which I had not imaged previously.

The LP filter was engaged for all of these.  A couple of galaxies, also with the LP filter engaged, were disappointing, with hardly anything visible.

Just pick them out of Sky Safari or similar.

[M40]

10 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

How did you get it to aim at that?

Well it's not listed in the ss50 search box as I tried that first, so knowing it was near vega, I put that in the search, found it was identified on the ss50 star map, selected it, the red box positioned itself over the target, then pressed goto. 

You can't do it if the blue box is on the screen with the red box.

 

[M40]

10 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

A couple of galaxies, also with the LP filter engaged, were disappointing, with hardly anything visible

I know exactly what you mean. We were visiting family last night and I took the ss50, so with very limited time I quickly rattled off a number of targets including m101 and m82. M82 was pretty good after 1 minute but m101, both with and without the filter, after a couple minutes proved to be very faint; m31 was a life saver.

My thoughts are that we need to understand the strengths and limitations of a small telescope with a colour camera. Usually for eeva I use an 85mm telescope with a mono camera for at least 5 minutes on M101 and it has to be a clear night, so why I expected a smaller telescope with a shorter exposure time to perform better is beyond me. 

So maybe leaving it to run for about 30 minutes on a galaxy will hopefully give better results. At the same time my plan is to hit the widefield targets with the ss50 that I cant get with my other telescopes.

It is good knowing what the ss50 is good at though; which is one of the reasons I went for epsilon lyrae, would it see any separation? Next target will likely be a double star with two colour stars, that will be an interesting one.

[Elp]

10 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The LP filter was engaged for all of these.  A couple of galaxies, also with the LP filter engaged, were disappointing, with hardly anything visible.

The LP filter (it really should be branded as something else), is a narrowband (wide bandpass) ha and o3 filter, your main benefit of using this will be on emission nebulae rich in these elements.

[M40]

10 hours ago, LDW1 said:

How often do you auto focus ?

Errrm not at all last night 🤣 time limitations being what it was, I just went for it.

[Cosmic Geoff]

44 minutes ago, M40 said:

Errrm not at all last night 🤣 time limitations being what it was, I just went for it.

Likewise.  Once used on the sky and focused, it seems to hold focus.

[LDW1]

4 hours ago, M40 said:

Errrm not at all last night 🤣 time limitations being what it was, I just went for it.

You should have, it would have taken about 10 sec.